


Waiting in a Winter Wonderland

by WriterOfFates



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, M/M, Unrequited Love, batfam, unintended angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 21:12:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5430938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterOfFates/pseuds/WriterOfFates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Fab Five and Lian are on a winter holiday in the Adirondacks.<br/>Jason gets lost in the forest and thankfully Dick is nearby to save him.<br/>But leaving the two of them alone in a small cabin during a snowstorm is never a very good idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waiting in a Winter Wonderland

**Author's Note:**

  * For [diefleder_tey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/diefleder_tey/gifts).



It was strange to Jason for there to be so much white surrounding him. Of course it was winter, of course there was snow, but he sometimes forgot that it wasn’t naturally the dirty color of Gotham’s snow, already greyish when falling through the polluted air, and then turning to sludge on the streets, mixed with the mud and garbage that coated everything there. Rarely did the parks there even stay white for long after being trampled on.

Here, however, in the mountains of New York, everything was white and untouched but for the occasional deer or rabbit tracks. But it had been snowing consistently for the past few hours and even those natural trails were disappearing. He had lost his prey’s tracks long before and had simply been moving forward, hoping to catch a glimpse, a sign, a clue, something so he didn’t have to admit to himself that he had lost the scum.

He’d followed the mob boss’s lackeys from Gotham into New York and then up into the Adirondacks, hoping they’d lead him straight to whatever hole their boss was hibernating in. And now, weeks of stalking and months of preparation were gone, buried under at least two feet of fresh snow.

He slowed his snowmobile to a stop, swearing softly. He knew if he didn’t head towards a town and find shelter soon, he’d have a hell of a time once night fell. He had no desire to be stuck outside if the snowfall turned into more than just a light flurry.

He turned off the machine and turned to start digging through his bag, looking for a GPS and the local map he’d snagged while in town. Spreading it out on his lap, he waited for the device to find his location, swearing again when it couldn’t connect to a satellite. He looked up again at the heavy cloud cover and decided it would be best to just head downhill and see where that got him. He was just about to turn the machine back on when a scream cut through the air.

Jason immediately froze, listening hard to try and pick out a direction, frustrated by the sound echoing off the trees and the muffling effect of the snow. He waited and waited until, finally, he heard it again. A child’s scream coming from somewhere west of him, according to the compass on the dashboard of his snowmobile. Probably. He quickly started it back up and sped off in that direction, dodging trees.  
He heard the scream again over the motor and knows he must be close. He was just about to slow down to go on foot so as not to alert whoever might be out there when he suddenly felt the machine lurch. He flew through off of the snowmobile and through the air, hitting the ground with a thud and a poof of snow.

* * *

 

Dick held Lian Harper upright, letting her skis skim along the snow as he slid down the hill. He was crouched down low, his hands on her waist as she flailed her arms over his head, letting out a scream that turned into laugher as her father sped around them, going backwards on his own skis to wave at her.

“You’re going to make your grandma jealous over that scream of yours, kiddo.”

The three year old looked up at him and laughed some more.

“Actually, I don’t even think there’s a kid under all that snowgear.” Dick squeezed her sides as if trying to find her under the puffy magenta one piece snowsuit and she shrieked again. “Lian! Lian, where are you? I can hear you but I can’t find you!”

“Uncle Dick!” She tugged her scarf from her face and gave him an exaggerated frown.

“Oh no no no, put that back on, your dad will kill me if he sees even one patch of your skin exposed!”

“It’s not that cold!”

Dick slid them to a stop and turned her around to rearrange the scarf so it covered all the way up to her goggles. “Safety first.” He knocked on her sunshine yellow helmet.

“How come you’re not wearing one?” She reached out and squished Dick’s hat down more on his head.  
Garth skied up to them, “Because he thinks he’s an impervious as an Amazonian or Atlantean.” He grinned. “Let the little squirt try on her own for a bit.”

“Fine fine, but it’ll be your head that Roy uses as target practice not mine.”

Dick turned Lian back around and watched her slide slowly down the hill then looked at Garth, who faced the woods, just staring at them. “What’s up? You look tense.”

“I can hear a snow mobile. In the woods off to the east.”

“Really? There shouldn’t be anyone else out here. Is it coming our way?”

“Sounds like it. And it’s much closer now.”

Dick strained to hear anything but just heard the laughter of his friends and Lian. “Alright.” He glanced back down the hill to see Lian slide right into Donna’s arms. The Amazonian picked the little girl up and swung her around, congratulating her before setting her down and sending her on her way to Wally. Donna looked back up at Dick and Garth, tilting her head. Dick motioned at the woods but waved her off when she shifted to remove her skis.

She stared at them for a moment longer but nodded and kept moving.

The two men skied to the edge of the tree and stepped out of their equipment. Dick almost immediately sunk into the powdery snow up to his knee, coming close to face planting from the sudden drop.

“The ever graceful Flying Grayson, eh?”

“Shut up,” Dick grumbled as Garth helped him pick himself back up. “How come you’re not sinking?”

“Changed its density. Just melted it a bit then flash froze it again under my feet. Basic stuff.”

“Yeah. Real basic. Show off.”

“Takes one to know one.”

“It’s not like I’m swinging my way through the woods like Tarzan or something!”

“No, but was flipping off of that cliff earlier really necessary?”

“Lian loved it!”

“She loves all your flips and shit.”

“Well who doesn’t?”

“I could make a list for you.”

The former Titans bickered back and forth quietly and light heartedly as they made their way over the mountain, the forest getting thicker and thicker as they go.

“Hear it still?”

“The rider occasionally cuts the engine, but it’s still pretty consistently coming this way.”

“They must be searching for something…” From behind them, they heard Lian’s scream laugh again.

Garth winced, “Roy really needs to break her of the habit of simply screaming at everything that excites her.

“Well that has to be hard. He’s got to break through her grandma’s influence.”

“Dinah would kill you if she heard you call her a grandma.”

“She’d have to catch me first!” Dick laughed but then fell silent as a loud crash echoes through the trees.

Immediately, they both raced forward, dodging their way through ground cover and rocks. The trees started to thin again, the snow getting proportionally deeper with less cover overhead.

They stepped out into a clearing and saw a smoking snowmobile on the other side. They approached it cautiously. “Must have hit something. But where’s the rider?”

“Dunno but they certainly took a good chunk out of this stump.” Garth stoopped and pressed his fingers to the fresh looking gash in the wood.

Dick paused beside the machine, scanning the area, trying to discern anything under the layer of fresh snow covering everything. He spotted a larger stump by a nearby tree and waded his way towards it.

Crouching down, he started to dig a bit, finding denser snow under the powder.

“What is it?” Garth asked as he turns the snowmobile upright.

“Dunno yet. Might not be—wait there’s definitely something…” His hand brushed something that felt like cloth and he dug at the snow faster. “Must have hit the tree and knocked snow down on themself…”

Garth quickly rushed over and helped shift the snow and soon they had most of the torso and the head uncovered.

“Jesus this is a big guy…” Dick scraped snow away from the helmet to try and lift the visor up. He finally pried it up and yelped in surprise, falling back and sinking into the snow with a poof.

“Jeeze that was dramatic. What, is the guy dead? Or just really ugly?” Garth shifted to look at the face. “Wow he’s… rather pretty looking for someone this big. Nothing really shocking though. What’s wrong with you?”

“He’s… I… uh… know him…”

“You know him? Well from that reaction it doesn’t much look like you wanted to meet him here, but we can’t leave him. Come on, we gotta find a way to get him down the hill.”

“We don’t know what kind of condition he’s in, we shouldn’t try to carry him all the way down but,” Dick looked up at the sky as he picked himself up, “from what I remember, this town doesn’t have an emergency helicopter.”

“So it wouldn’t get here before the storm hits.”

“So it really is going to storm? The weather channel said it would miss us.”

Garth gave him a look. “Who you going to believe? Some North Country meteorologist or me?”

Dick rolled his eyes and shifted to kneel over the body again just as blue green eyes blink open. “So… bright…” a gruff voice mumbled and the eyes closed again.

“Hey, stay awake, can you tell how hurt you are? Hey, Jay. Don’t make me shake you.”

“Jay?” Garth asked as he finally got the rest of the snow off of the man.

“Dickhead? S’that you?” Jason’s eyes opened again. “When did you die…?”

“I didn’t and you haven’t either.”

“Have so…” The big man shifted a bit and groaned. “’verythin’ hurts…”

“Well yeah it looks like you smashed yourself up pretty bad. Think you broke anything?”

“Would he be able to tell for himself?” Garth frowned.

“Oh yeah. We’re trained to it.”

Dick’s friend frowned deeper but let it go.

“’m fine… Jus’ a bit banged up…”

“You’re slurring your words like crazy. I’m checking you for a concussion.” Dick did a quick inspection and sighed, “Oh yeah, even with a helmet and a hard head, you managed that.” He leaned back and looked at Garth. “Do you think the two of us could get him down the hill before the storm hits?”

“If the snowmobile is working right? Yeah. But I’d doubt that.”

Dick pondered that. “How about you alone?”

“Well yeah even if the storm hits a little cold and wind won’t deter me much. But where would you be?”

“If I’m remembering the maps right, there’s a little observation cabin about a mile south of here. We’ll get him down there and I’ll stay with him while you go tell the others.”

Garth stayed silent for a moment then shrugged. “Alright. It’s a start. Come on, buddy, up you go. We’ll have to leave the mobile here.”

“That’s fine. We can come back for it another time.” Dick pulled out a small tracker and walked over to the machine, tagging it. “Now let’s go.” They both pulled one of Jason’s arms over their shoulders and stood him up.

“Wait… gotta find the kid…”

“Kid? What kid?”

“Heard a kid screamin’… gotta find ‘em before the storm hits…”

Garth snorted a bit. “Yeah. Definitely need to get her to stop doing that.”

“Wut…”

“It was probably Lian, Jay.”

“Who’s Lian?”

“Remember my friend Roy Harper? Ollie’s kid? He had a little girl a few years back. She took after Grandma Dinah just a little too much.”

“So… no one’s in danger…?”

“Just you, kiddo?”

“’at’s good…” He started to droop a bit but Dick and Garth pulled him back up more.

“Nuh uh, you gotta stay awake. No way are we dragging your dead weight the whole freaking time. Walk, damnit!”

“Yeah… yeah…”

Jason leaned his weight heavily on the two but stayed upright. Slowly, they started the tedious trek down the slope.What should have only been a half hour hike if they had been on a proper trail dragged on as they pushed their way through undergrowth and snow, practically carrying the 220 pound man.

An hour passed before they finally stumble upon the cabin. Garth bore Jason’s weight as Dick picked the lock and shouldered his way in. “Bring him in here, lay him in front of the fireplace and I’ll get that going.” They bustled about, making the one room cabin livable. By the time a fire was crackling, Jason was able to roll onto his side, groaning and huddling towards the heat.

“You sure you’re going to be okay?”

“Yeah, he’s about as dangerous newborn kitten.”

Garth looked between Dick and the rather large man curled in front of the fire. “Sure. Should I send out a search party immediately or after the storm passes?”

“When it’s safe to do so. He doesn’t look like he’s going to keel immediately and there’s canned food in the cupboards.”

“Handy. Alright, stay safe, Dick. Later.” Garth readjusted his gear and headed back out into the wind and snow. Dick watched him until he disappeared in the trees then closed the door and bolted it.

He moved back over to the fireplace and poked at it, adding another log on.

“Fishboy… finally… left us alone… huh…?” Jason’s attempt at a husky tone was ruined by his chattering teeth.

“Littlewing, let me give you a piece of advice. Don’t try to flirt with a concussion and mild hypothermia.”

“I’m super fine…”

Dick sighed and straightened up, muttering, “Well duh…” under his breath.

“Wut?” Jason peered up at him from under layers of blanket.

“Nothing. Shut up and enjoy the warmth. I’m going to get the stove heated.” He grabbed some logs and stomped off towards the corner of the room devoted to a small kitchen.

As the fire in the wood burning stove began to catch, Dick grabbed two cans of soup and dumped them into a pot. “I hope chicken noddle is fine with you.”

“Anything warm, I don’t care what.”

“Well, it’s heating up. Patience.”

“Something I’m so good at.”

Dick smiled, glad Jason was feeling well enough to be sarcastic. “We’ll just have to occupy you some other way. Can you strip yourself or do I need to do it?”

Jason whipped around, falling over as he got caught up in his blanket. “What?! Why?!”

“Because your clothes are wet. You’ll just get worse if we don’t get them off of you.” Dick cocked his head and stared at the younger man. “What were you thinking of?”

“Nothing! Nothing…” He hurriedly picked himself up. “I can do it myself.” There was a long pause. “Probably.”

“Probably?” Dick took a step towards the shivering man.

“I got it! I can do it! Stay the fuck over there! Just… make sure you don’t burn my soup damnit!”

Jason glared indignantly at Dick until he turned around to tend to the stove. Soon enough, Dick could hear fabric rustling and muttered swear words. By the time the soup was heated up and Dick turned back around, Jason was once again huddled under the blankets by the fire, his pile of clothes beside him.

Dick crossed the room to hand him the bowl and spoon and started collecting the layers as Jason began gulping it down.  
“Oh, they’re not soaked through really, that’s good.” Dick hung Jason’s outer clothes near the fireplace and took the others towards the kitchen stove. As he draped those over chairs, he called over his shoulder. “No underwear?” He glanced back just in time to see Jason nearly choke on his soup. From that distance, Dick couldn’t tell if the flush he could just barely see on Jason’s face was from regaining his body temperature or from embarrassment.

“They-they’re not wet!” Jason occupied himself by tilting the bowl up, drinking down the broth and hiding his face.

Dick laughed softly, enjoying himself despite the situation, and busied himself by checking through the rest of the cupboards. He found more canned foods, vacuum sealed bags with blankets inside, an emergency medical kit, and then stumbled across a cupboard filled with board games.

“Jackpot!”

“What?” Jason twisted around to try and see.

“I found the key to defeating boredom tonight!”

“You’re going to get naked and dance on the table?”

“What? No.” He raises his eyebrows at Jason. “You need to be at least level 57 romance to unlock my strip tease,” Dick shot back as he gathered up the games. “No, this is even better.”

“Not much better than that…”

Dick ignored Jason’s mutter and set the games down on a small coffee table, situating himself on the loveseat. “Board games! Classic ones, too!”

Jason stared at him like he’d grown a second head. “And how is that possibly better than a strip tease?”

“Well it’s possible for you unlike whatever fantasy is going through your head. So stop acting like a horny teenager.” Dick began sorting through their options ignoring the way the younger man’s shoulders drooped ever so slightly under the blankets. “Monopoly.”

“No fun with two players.” Jay’s voice was sullen.

Dick set it aside. “Trivial Persuit?”

“Which edition?”

“The 1960’s.”

“Oh heck no.”

“Clue?”

“I’m not in the middle of bumfucknowhere New York to get in touch with my inner Batman.”

“Sorry?”

“You’ll be sorry.”

“Shoots and ladders?”

“Now you’re just taking a shot in the dark.”

Dick rolled his eyes and looked at the last box on the table. “Enchanted Forest? I’ve never heard of this one.”

“Sounds like some fairy tale kids game.”

“Looks like it, too.”

Dick pulled the top off and grabbed the instructions, giving them a quick read through. “Looks like it’s a memory game, sorta. You have to move around the board, figuring out where all the ‘treasures’ are hidden and tell the king where they are so you can become his heir.”

“Boring. I don’t want to be married off to some old king’s daughter.”

“No mention of marriage. The King is childless.”

“What? No forcing a princess into marriage? What kind of fairy tale is this?” Jason inched closer and picked up one of the little tree shaped pieces.“What is this? Cinderella’s shoe?”

“Oh man, I gotta get me this game for home. Cass would freaking love it….” Dick looked up at Jason and beamed. “Wanna play?”

“Really? What are you? Five?”

“Yes. Come on, Jay, you used to love fairy tales. You had all those old collected volumes in your room.”

“It’s not like I wanted them! Alfred and Bruce just gave them to me!”

“Jason, you had me edit an essay you wrote on the patriarchal influences of fairy tales and why the princess should save the day. An essay you wrote without there being an assignment for because you were mad at one of your teacher’s comments. I think you should stop trying to bullshit me.”

“You… shut up.”

“I will if you play the game.”

“Fine!” Jason sat crosslegged on the floor and rearranged his blankets. “Read the instructions out loud. And I’m being the green one.” He snatched up the little green figure.

Dick grinned and picked up the blue for himself, spreading out the board and handing the little tree pieces over to Jason as head read the instructions out.

They played together, neither sure for exactly how long with no clocks and only the rate that the logs burned to tell the passage of time. They played the game through twice, each with one win and were on a tie breaker when Jason’s stomach growled loudly.

The two of them locked and eyes and Dick burst out laughing. “Oh god, littlewing, you never change. How about you put another log in the fireplace and I’ll go heat us up some dinner.” Jason’s face burned bright red and he quickly stood and busied himself with that task. Dick smiled a little and just watched the other man for a long moment. “You’re feeling warmer?”

“Yeah…”

“That’s good. I was really worried for a while there.”

Jason snorted a bit in disbelief.

“What?”

“You? Worried about me?”

“Why is that so unbelievable? Did I not bust my ass carrying you through the woods in a snowstorm?”

“You would do that for any poor sucker you found stranded.”

Dick sighed and headed over towards the kitchen, pulling out a few more cans of soup. The silence between them stretched and the wind seemed to howl even louder outside to make up for it.

When Dick turned around, Jason was huddled in front of the fire again, blankets wrapped around his body even tighter. He carried the two bowls over and set them both on the floor before sitting down as well.

“That is true. I would have carried anyone through those woods to safety. And so would Garth. It’s what we do. Even if it was someone loathsome and awful, no one deserves to freeze to death out in the middle of nowhere.”

Jason turned his body away from Dick and didn’t respond.

“But that doesn’t mean I would be trying this hard to make just anyone comfortable. There were books in that cupboard, too. I could easily amuse myself while still monitoring the health of whoever it is. I want… I was… Jason, I was scared. Shocked at first to see it was you but then I was just scared.”

“You? Scared? Of little ol’ me?”

“Not of you, you big loaf cake. For you. We found you under a foot of heavy snow by a wrecked snowmobile! I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to move you safely because of an injury. I was afraid you wouldn’t even wake up! I was afraid that I’d…” Dick trailed off.

“What, Dick? You were fucking afraid of what?”

“It’s nothing.” Dick picked his bowl up and ate a spoonful.

“Fuck that!” Jason suddenly spun and shoved Dick. The older man yelped as he toppled, spilling the hot soup over his chest. He reacted quick enough to toss the bowl aside before more than half soaked into his clothes and rolled away, afraid of Jason lashing out again. Jason bit his lip and looked away.

Dick stripped his sweater and shirt off, wringing out as much of the soup as he could before walking back towards the kitchen area, folding up Jason’s now dry clothing and replacing it with his own to dry by the stove. He gripped the back of one of the chairs and took a few moments to breathe calmly before turning back towards Jason.

“I was afraid because I care about you Jason.”

“Shut up.”

“I was afraid because you’ve died before.”

“Shut up!”

“I was afraid because you might have died again if we hadn’t found you.”

“Stop talking!”

“I was afraid because it could have been like before.”

“I will hurt you if you don’t shut up right now.”

“I was afraid because what if I had failed to save you again.”

“Sto—again…? You weren’t even around the last time.”

“I know. I wasn’t around a lot. I was off doing my own thing and avoiding Bruce and that meant I wasn’t there for you when you needed it.”

Jason pulled the blankets around him tighter. “It wasn’t your fault. Even if you had been around… She was my mom…”

“I know. I know how desperate you were for a family. I should have been there for you. Should have been a better brother. More of a family for you.”

“It wouldn’t have helped.”

“Maybe not. A mother has a lot of power.”

“Not because of Sheila.”

Dick frowned. “Then why?”

“Because I didn’t want you to be my family. I hadn’t for a while. I still don’t.”

“You…” Dick felt a lump form in the back of his throat. “I… I’m sorry I didn’t realize. I…” He swallowed hard and started again. “I’m sorry I forced my own feelings on you.”

“God you’re a dumbass…” Jason dragged his hands down his face and pushed himself up to his feet, keeping the blanket wrapped around his body. He walked towards Dick, stepping into his personal space. “I didn’t want you to be my brother. Who would want to be brothers with the man they have a crush on?”

Dick’s eyes went wide and he stared at Jason before collapsing down into the chair. “You… what?”

“If you were a street kid of Gotham, you either hated Robin, or you loved him.” Jason shrugged. “Tim’s not the only one who looked up to Robin as a kid. And then suddenly I was supposed to be family with the same kid who had been running around the city in itty bitty shorts pummeling the shit out of the guys who hurt kids like me. It was a miracle.”

“You… even then?” Dick’s voice was strained.

“No, not then. It was just admiration then. But I hit puberty and you were just so… bright… so much what I wanted to be. What Bruce wanted me to be. I wanted to despise you for that but… Fuck…” Jason ran a hand through his hair.

“Are you still…?”

“No. There was no place for crushes in death or in that half-life that followed.”

Dick’s chest felt a bit tighter and he frowned, unsure of what that meant.

“But…”

“But?” Dick asked.

“Puberty did leave me with something.” Jason leaned in close to Dick and smirked, “All those fantasies you mentioned earlier…?” There was cockiness in his voice, but it didn’t seem natural to Dick. “They’re all still up there… And they are so so much more now.” He straightened up and Dick caught a glimpse of his chest under the blankets before the bigger man wrapped them tightly around himself again and headed back to the fire.

Dick swallowed hard and remained where he was until the chill finally got to him. Moving quietly so as to not break the silence that stretched awkwardly between the two of them, he settled himself back on the couch, wrapping a blanket tightly around his own body as he mulled all that had been said over. The night stretched out before him, long and cold, but his brain kept running Jason’s words over and over in his head.

The fire finally began to die down again and Jason made no move to add another log. Sighing, Dick stood and did it himself, poking at it to make sure it caught before closing the grate again. Stepping around Jason towards the couch, he paused and turned back, crouching down. He waited for a long moment, hoping the younger man would look towards him but finally just shook his head slightly.

“I will always think about you as family, littlewing.” He could visibly see Jason flinch under the blankets. “But there’s all kinds of family. I want to keep talking when you’re ready.” Dick stood again and curled back onto the couch, prepared to wait as long as it took.

**Author's Note:**

> So this definitely did not turn out the way I had originally intended it to be. It's basically an angsty extension of my love of random ass board games and the mountains of NYS. I'm sorry that there is not enough comfort in all of this hurt.


End file.
